UP pays tribute to former Chairman of the Board James Evans

Written by Jenifer Nunez, assistant editor

James H. Evans, who served as Union Pacific chairman of the board from 1977 to 1985, died May 11, 2015, at age 94.

 

Upon the formation of Union Pacific Corporation in 1969, Evans joined its management as president and a director. He served as president of Union from 1969 to 1977, at which time he became chairman and chief executive officer. He was also part of a leadership team that championed Union Pacific’s merger with Missouri Pacific Railroad and Western Pacific Railroad.

Evans joined Union Pacific from The Seamen’s Bank for Savings where he had served as president and then chairman and president. Prior to joining The Seamen’s Bank, he was financial vice president and director of Dun & Bradstreet Inc. following the merger with Reuben H. Donnelley Corporation, at which he had served as secretary-treasurer and general counsel prior to being elected a vice president. Born June 26, 1920, in Lansing, Mich., his first position following his service as a Navy lieutenant in World War II was with Harris Trust & Savings Bank in Chicago as an attorney and loan officer.

He was a former director of American Telephone and Telegraph Company, The Anaconda Company, Bristol-Myers Company, Citicorp/Citibank, Dun & Bradstreet Inc., General Motors Corporation and Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. Evans was a former co-chairman of The Business Roundtable and a former member of The Business Council.

He was a life trustee of the Central Park Conservancy (former chairman). He also served on the governing boards of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, The University of Chicago, Centre College (former chairman of the board) and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (former co-chairman). He served as a member of the board of governors of the American National Red Cross (former national fund chairman) and the President’s Committee on Environmental Quality. He was a trustee of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the founding chairman and life trustee of the National Recreation and Park Association.

 

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